Slimmed Down Fish Room Journal

Nice tanks...you really need to enter our Fish of the Month contests:
February...tanks sized at 31 gallons and larger
March....tanks sized at 16 gallons and smaller
April....tanks sized at 17 to 30 US gallons
Never seem to be able to keep up with the forum enough to get pics in on time. Maybe it will happen one-day, lol.
 
Well on another note, I asked for an estimate for a 5'*3'*2' acrylic tank modified top to fit FX4/6 tubbing and got a response for $2500 with 1/2" acrylic (clear back as I will either do a exterior film or a 3D background inside the tank. Also the only color option is black, and I like blue better - lol.

I think that's a good deal as another place wanted $3300 for 7'*2*2*. No lid modifications.

Just have to come up with 1/2 down to secure the estimate. However may not do that till March. Bonus is since Sis and I will both have fish in here, we are splitting the cost.
 
Never seem to be able to keep up with the forum enough to get pics in on time. Maybe it will happen one-day, lol.
The TOTM for 31 US gallons and larger will begin accepting entries around January 29th!
 
I have not kept African fish for the most part, specifically not African cichlids although it's something my sister has always wanted to get into. I also have not kept a lot of the Asian barbs simply because of their size and the tanks that I've had before, the max size was a 75 gallon. It's only within the last four close to 5 years that I've had my 125. I've had a lot of plecos and a lot of tetras in my life, I like serpentine loaches so I've had a lot of those. I've had puffers; we've had pea puffers, still have the pea puffer imposter, we had a red eye puffer, we had the shouteny puffers, we had one other puffer and I don't remember what kind it was now. And I'm sorry I'm talking to my phone and so it's not going to be translating anything very well but I have no choice since I'm driving to work.
Ask for fish that I want to keep I would always love to get some more sultan plecos in the future, I had them but when we moved from our last house to this house they didn't take being in a temporary bin very well and so they died for some reason I'm not sure. I had four of them and I really loved them because they were very social with each other although they're not very social with other pleco species so if I would get them again they would have to be the only pleco's in that tank. I did have chubby plecos before and they killed the chubby plecos almost immediately. If you can't tell I am a pleco lover and I won't say no to any pleco. My dream plecos were always getting some of the royal plecos and now I've got two and my sister has one, which is why I'm getting the largest acrylic tank for them to grow up in.
I have always wanted the large hog nose corrys and now I have seven of them. They are also going to be going into the large acrylic tank so I would like to get at least another seven, possibly 10 more. The tank will have a 3 ft by 5 ft footprint so it should be big enough for them and plecos. I've always wanted to have more of the larger barbs like the Odessa, clown, even tiger to an extent; but I never had a tank large enough for thbecause they do get big and they get wide as well so I may add some large barbs to the tank. However I really would like to put a nice school of Denison Barb's in there so I'm not sure if I would add anything slower moving because of the Denison barbs. I've always liked what giant Danios look like and since I will be moving my tetras out of the 120 that I have and making that a cold water tank and incorporating the dojos and the golden barbs into that tank I can add a nice school of giant danios to that 120. So I will be getting those in the future. There's been a lot of plecos that I wanted to keep and I have, and have not successfully been able to keep them alive so I may or may not try them in the future.
Right now I'm pretty much spaced out on plecos, I don't really have a tank that I can add them to.

I've always wanted to do a saltwater reef tank setup, however tank setup and time wise and expense wise I don't see myself doing that for at least another 5 years. Sister and I may go half on that as well cuz she's always wanted to have a reef tank and we do have an extra 75 Marineland lying around that would make a nice reef tank and we also have a sump that she got from a friend that's been sitting in the basement doing nothing much of anything for a couple years now.
My sister currently has three rope fish and collection of spiny eels. I have a collection of parvo eels in the 125 and once upon a time I had Borneo eel in there as well, actually two because they first one wound up jumping out of the tank and the second one wound up doing the same in a tub when we moved. So I'm not into getting another large eel although Borneo eel was such a sweetheart I would love to get another one but again they they tend to be a little skittish or not so skittish but always looking for greener pastures. So I will stick with my Pavo eels and my sister's spiny eels.

Well since my microphone keeps cutting out and I'm almost at work I'm just going to stop here. I know I rambled on a lot while I was driving and I apologize if my rambling is a little hard to keep straight, driving does tend to distract you a little bit.
Hope my verbal ramblings are legible.
 
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Just a bit of an update.

I have been super busy with work and taking some in-work tests/training so I have been visibly neglecting the 125 gallon, lol-as in I have not been viewing the tank as much as I usually do to check up on my fishy number's/body condition. I have been feeding and doing WC, but was surprised to see that my group of 4 snakeskin gouramis had shrunk to 2; the one big girl (Vanilicia) and one smaller girl (Tag-Along). The other female that was similar sized to Tag-Along, and slightly smaller male just disappeared. :(I had noticed the rainbowfish sparring more often and injuring each other and my other fish getting a bit thinner. So Sis and I believe the rainbows at adult size are (were) too boisterous for the more timid gouramis. Some of them were the same size as my gold and barred gourami.

So for the past week or two I have wanted to catch them and re home them but I was studying for one of the work tests so haven't had time. Also because of the short staff at work I have been working some later than usual hours. Fortunately I finished the work education so don't have to worry about that deadline.

Well since that stress with work was behind me, I decided to take some time today to scoop up the rainbows and take them to the pet store. Fortunately it was easier than I though as the rainbows aren't very smart, so it only took me about an hour to catch the seventeen 4-5" fish. I was able to scoop about seven of the fish out almost immediately. The next five were a bit of a fight between the fish, the plants and the driftwood holding back the net. The last four were aggravating until I used my brains and put some food in the large net. I have some harlequins in the tank and as they gently went in and out off the net, eating the food-it gave the rainbow's a false sense of security and I was able to scoop up the last few guys one by one. An hour drive later to a pet store in Milwaukee WI, and the guy/gals have a new temp home until they fine a forever home. I didn't realize I had so many and the activity levels they brought to the tank until I got them out. I would have loved to have added another 2 snakeskins-but it seems they are going to be hard to find. I will do a small gravel cleaning and WC on them tomorrow as well as clean up some of the plants I damaged in the process. After the four hour ordeal of scooping, driving to/from the pet store and other errands, I was just too pooped to deal with the tank tonight.
 
Always good to hear from you, Nat. Sorry about your losses. I used to HATE trying to catch those rainbows! Faster than greased lightning. I could see gouramis not doing well with their activity level. Hope the change is a good one. I wonder why snakeskins are so hard to find. I think they're just too big and non-flashy to be very popular. Such cool personalities, though.

So, is work going well? Sounds like you're moving up? Usually at-work education leads to good things...Hope that's the case.
 
Sorry for the losses Nat, but good to hear from you again
 
Hey guys. Yeah, sad about the loss of the snakeskins. Tank is quite a bit calmer with out the rainbows.

Tom re: the education.
I am currently working as a pharmacy technician and had some company education courses that were a bit delayed as last year (started in September PT, went full time in late Oct) was just madness between being short staffed, increase in vaccinations and prescriptions. Finally got some down time at work to be able to work on the education programs. The next step is going to be actual classes to prep for certification and being able to vaccinate customers. Both come with pay raises according to the pharmacist.
 
Had an issue with a cat vs tank, cat won...tank busted. Now cats are not allowed in the basement and we are figuring out if the tank is salvageable. Thankfully we know someone who is an die caster, designer, inventor, drafter and troubleshooting is a hobby for him. He thinks he has a way to fix the tank. Sis and I hope its true as moving this beast will be a PITA as its is old and made of heavy non-standard thickness glass (custom built 5'x3', and bought used).

Fortunately there weren't many inhabitants (4 BN plecos, one royal pleco, 2 angelfish, one large catfish, and a small knife-fish) and we had a couple other large and medium tanks to temporarily move fish into.

If we can repair the tank (its a 120gallon) we will start the process of musical tanks, moving some tanks over to other over then next months to year. Sis was going to break down her 75 gallon acrylic and move the inhabitants to this tank, then we were going to move the rack of betta tanks over to another rack and set up the 120 acrylic in that area. The glass 75 gallon inhabitants (Peru wolf fish, BN pleco and wild blue acara would move to that tank, and possibly the female wild blue acara from the S. American 120. With both 75 gallon tanks empty the rack (and tanks) would be broken down, making space for a 180 gallon.

I was entertaining the idea of a 220-240 acrylic, but prefer the longevity of glass and for the same price I can get a 180, stand and aquarium movers to put the tank in the basement.

When I get this tank I will be moving some inhabitants out of the 125 and into the 180 (mainly the 2 royal plecos I have and a slew of other plecos (BN, peckoltia and the 3 beacon and green phantom) I would like to add an assortment of barbs, including the red pandas I currently have in the 125. I will also be breaking down the S. American 120 gallon I have and many of the tetras will be re-homed with some moving into the other 120 (with the broken center brace). The corys will move into the 180 and I will add another 7-10 brochis (hog-nose) cory into the tank.

With the S.American 120 empty I will turn the tank into a coldwater home for my golden and common weather loaches, the golden barbs and add some giant danios to the tank. This will allow me to break down the 50 gallon low boy and make some changes to the shelving unit that is holding it. We will be able to transfer the inhabitants form the 20L river tank into a 33 gallon or similar tank and place it in this area. We will also be able to set up a 40 breeder blackwater tank for the chocolate gouramis I have and add a variety of pangio loaches (regular, silver, black, myersi, zipper, hairband and possibly purple).

Sis and I agree that we like bigger tanks and with this we will loose two 75 gallons, a 20 long and a 50 gallon tank, gain a 180 gallon and a 33 gallon and make use of the 40 breeder we have sitting around.

Again these are future plans, funding needs to come together for the stand for the 120g acrylic, the 180g and the stand/movers for the 180.
 
Had an issue with a cat vs tank, cat won...tank busted. Now cats are not allowed in the basement and we are figuring out if the tank is salvageable. Thankfully we know someone who is an die caster, designer, inventor, drafter and troubleshooting is a hobby for him. He thinks he has a way to fix the tank. Sis and I hope its true as moving this beast will be a PITA as its is old and made of heavy non-standard thickness glass (custom built 5'x3', and bought used).

Fortunately there weren't many inhabitants (4 BN plecos, one royal pleco, 2 angelfish, one large catfish, and a small knife-fish) and we had a couple other large and medium tanks to temporarily move fish into.

If we can repair the tank (its a 120gallon) we will start the process of musical tanks, moving some tanks over to other over then next months to year. Sis was going to break down her 75 gallon acrylic and move the inhabitants to this tank, then we were going to move the rack of betta tanks over to another rack and set up the 120 acrylic in that area. The glass 75 gallon inhabitants (Peru wolf fish, BN pleco and wild blue acara would move to that tank, and possibly the female wild blue acara from the S. American 120. With both 75 gallon tanks empty the rack (and tanks) would be broken down, making space for a 180 gallon.

I was entertaining the idea of a 220-240 acrylic, but prefer the longevity of glass and for the same price I can get a 180, stand and aquarium movers to put the tank in the basement.

When I get this tank I will be moving some inhabitants out of the 125 and into the 180 (mainly the 2 royal plecos I have and a slew of other plecos (BN, peckoltia and the 3 beacon and green phantom) I would like to add an assortment of barbs, including the red pandas I currently have in the 125. I will also be breaking down the S. American 120 gallon I have and many of the tetras will be re-homed with some moving into the other 120 (with the broken center brace). The corys will move into the 180 and I will add another 7-10 brochis (hog-nose) cory into the tank.

With the S.American 120 empty I will turn the tank into a coldwater home for my golden and common weather loaches, the golden barbs and add some giant danios to the tank. This will allow me to break down the 50 gallon low boy and make some changes to the shelving unit that is holding it. We will be able to transfer the inhabitants form the 20L river tank into a 33 gallon or similar tank and place it in this area. We will also be able to set up a 40 breeder blackwater tank for the chocolate gouramis I have and add a variety of pangio loaches (regular, silver, black, myersi, zipper, hairband and possibly purple).

Sis and I agree that we like bigger tanks and with this we will loose two 75 gallons, a 20 long and a 50 gallon tank, gain a 180 gallon and a 33 gallon and make use of the 40 breeder we have sitting around.

Again these are future plans, funding needs to come together for the stand for the 120g acrylic, the 180g and the stand/movers for the 180.
Wow, what an ordeal...glad we don't have cats, lol

How about some new pics of the fish room, in all of it's glory?....good to hear from you again, Nat
 
Wow, never a dull moment with you and your fish, Nat! Just reinforces my conviction that cats are evil, as a general rule.

What weather loach/barb/danio tank sounds cool. No pun intended.
 
Wow, what an ordeal...glad we don't have cats, lol

How about some new pics of the fish room, in all of it's glory?....good to hear from you again, Nat
Hi Matt! Hope your doing well.
Possibly the tank may be repaired this weekend. In the meantime we have to do some straightening before I get some pics in, it's a bit disorganized right now. Good thing we have another crappy weekend- weather wise, too bad one can't type with sarcasm...
 

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